Combination article of furniture



J. BECK COMBINATION ARTICLE OF FURNITURE Filed April 21. 1926 ATTORNEY 0d. is, 1927.

vrvilivlllrvll liirlldllllllltlll -m Patented Oct. 18, 1927.

JOHN BECK, or BRookLYN, NEW YORK.

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COMBINATION ARTICLE or FURNITURE.

Application filed April 21, 1926. serial No. 103,435."

The main object of this invention is to provide an article of furniture whichmay be used as a lectern, a chair, or a table. The article of furniture consists of a plurality of hinged panels which may be raised to a position to form aseat and back when used as a chair and one of the panels may be raised angularly when used as a lec'tern', and when used as a table, the panels are'aligned.

Another object is to provide a combination article of furniture suitable for use as a chair, table, or lectern, having a mechanism thereon whereby height of the" chair and lectern may bevaried to suit the needs of the occasion.

The above and other objects will become apparent in thedescription below, in which characters of reference refer to like-named parts in the drawing. 1

' Referring briefly to'the drawing, Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the article of furniture.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the same, showing it when used as a lec-tern or as a table;

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a side elevati-onal. view of the upper end of the article, showing the same used as a chair.

Figure 5 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional elevational View of the lower end of the article of furniture, showing the leg lengthening mechanism in detail.

Figure 6 is a top planview of the locking mechanism actuating disk.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates the legs of the article of furniture. The article of furniture itself is square in outline and the legs are mounted one at each corner. Between thelegs, a large upper drawer 11 and two lower drawers 12 and 13 are slidably located. At the upper end of the article of furniture, a board 14 having inclined sides is mounted. This board fits into channels formed in the front and rear walls 15 of a box-like structure. A panel 16 is pivotally attached to the box-like structure by hinges 17 and an additional panel 18 is hingedly attached to the first-named panel 16 by a hinge 19. A pair of arms 20 are detachably mounted on both.

sides of the panels 16 and 18 and are used for inclining the uppermost panel 18 when the article of furniture serves as a pulpit.

tubes,

movement of the disk 31 panels 18 and 16are swung upwardly so that the panel 16 lies in avertical plane, the latter-serves as a back rest on the underside of which a cushion 21 is attached. structure with the panel 1 6 when the latter s arrangedas shown in Figure 4, serves as chair for seating purposes. A cylinder 22 1S mounted'in each one ofthe legs and slidably receives a hollow tube 23. These four in'numben one for eachdeg of the article of furniture, are mutually connected'by a cross plate 24. A housing 25 is mounted between each pair of legs 10. A locking rod 26 is slidably mounted in each end of said housing and at the outer ends of the rods, flanges 27 are formed. These flanges 27 are rigid with thefrod and form the'seatfor coil springs 28 whose opposite ends are seated 011a flange 29 which I to the housing 25; l The ends of the rods 27 PIOJGCt 'GXilGIlOf'Of' the housings 25 and. are adapt-ed to pass thru the opening formed in alignment with the bar in the cylinders 26, as illustrated in Figure 5. It is to be noted that one bar 26 is applied to each leg of the article of furniture and the bars extend outwardly from opposite ends of the housing 26. The mutually acent ends of the bars are bent downwardly and are received in eccentric channels 30 which are formed on the upper face of a locking disk 31. The outer end ofeach of these channels begins at a point near the periphery of the disk '31 and courses radially towardthe axis of said 'disk so that a transversemovement of the rods 26 is possible when rotating the disks. The hollow tubes 23 are providedwith a plurality of openings 32 into which the outer ends of the rods 26 are inserted by A handle or, a knob 33 is rigidly attached to the disk 31 and projects downwardly from the same thru the housing to a point where it may be manipulated by the hand. i

The article of furniture may be used either as a chair, a table, or a lectern, as described. In using it as a table, the panels are placed in parallel alignment, as illustrated in Figure 2. When using the device as a lectern, the upper panel which is hingedly attached to the lower panel is elevated at one end and is fixed in'such angular position by brackets. When using the article as a chair, the lower WVhen the The cooperation of the box-like panel is rotated I to a vertical plane so that the upholstery on the underside of the lower panel serves as a back rest,=as=in a chair.

In order to accommodate the svaryfing heights required for convenient use of the table, chair, and lectern, the legs of the article are made so that they can be lengthened. Each of the legs of the article is provided with a cylinder fixed securely in the leg. The cylinder has a hollow tube slidable therein, the tubes being rigidly connected to each other by a cross plate. These tubes are provided with a plurality of spaced-apart openings into which the rods of the locking mechanism are adapted to be inserted. The rods are slidable in housings provided between each pair of legs at the front and back of the article of furniture and are adapted to be normally extended by the tension of springslocated in the housing between a flange fixed on the rods and a flange rigid with the housing. The mutually adjacent ends of the rods bend downwardly as described, and these downwardly bent ends are inserted into eccentric channels for-med on the rod mover disk. When this disk is rotated by grasping the knob, the rods are caused to ride toward the axis of the disk in the eccentric channels and thereby retract the outer ends of said rods out of the openings in the hollow tubes and thus free the tubes so that they can be telescoped into or out of' the'cylind-ers fixed in the legsbt the chairs. In this manner, the height of the article of furniture may be varied by extending or telescoping the hollow tubes of the legs into or out of the body of the legs 10 to suit the needs of the article of furniture.

I claim In an article of furniture, hollow, legs supporting said article, tubes slidably mounted in said legs and having openings therein, an integral cross plate mounted on the free ends of said tubes and holding therefrom, the projecting ends engaging the openings in the tube and the other ends engaging the channels, and coil springs on said rods norm-ally extendingthe latter into ehgagement with said openings.

In testimony whereofI afii'x my signature.

JOHN BECK, 

